Pringle, Sir John

Pringle, Sir John

(born April 10, 1707, Stitchel, Roxburgh, Scot.—died Jan. 18, 1782, London, Eng.) British physician. As physician general to the British armed forces (1740–48), he applied his knowledge to hospitals and army camps. In Observations on the Diseases of the Army (1752), he outlined procedures for hospital ventilation and camp sanitation. He recognized the various forms of dysentery as one, equated hospital and jail fevers, and coined the term influenza. His suggestion that military hospitals be respected as sanctuaries by both sides in a conflict led to the establishment of the Red Cross.